Self-securing lace front hairpiece for persons with alopecia or thinning or balding edges

Abstract

A self-securing lace front hairpiece is used for persons with alopecia or thinning or balding edges. The self-securing lace front hairpiece includes a securing strap and an adhesive strip on an upper interior portion of the forehead piece, wherein the securing strap and the adhesive strip together secure the lace front hairpiece to the head of a person to permit installation by a stylist without the need for assistance from the person or another stylist to temporarily hold the self-securing lace front hairpiece in place.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] Not ApplicableSTATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0002] Not ApplicableTHE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

[0003] Not ApplicableINCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM.

[0004] Not ApplicableSTATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

[0005] Not ApplicableBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION(1) Field of the Invention

[0006] The disclosure relates to lace hairpieces and wigs and more particularly pertains to a new self-securing lace front hairpiece for persons with alopecia or thinning or balding edges. Many people have alopecia or thinning of the hair in the front or forehead region, such that the person has a receding hairline. For women such a condition is very noticeable as many women have longer hair. One solution is to use a lace front hairpiece that blends in with the person's natural hair to fill in and cover the exposed forehead and front scalp areas. The lace front hairpiece is in contrast to a full wig or weave in that it has almost a veil-like design and only covers this front area. Such devices are less intrusive and expensive than full wigs or hairpieces and are useful for persons who merely have a thinning or receding hairline and otherwise have a full head of hair. However, such lace front hairpieces can be challenging to install as the stylist often requires the assistance of the person on whom the hairpiece is being installed or another stylist. The stylist needs his or her hands free to perform the installation steps, so the person or another stylist has to hold the hairpiece in place. It would therefore be advantageous for a lace front hairpiece to be self-securing to unburden the customer and not waste the time of other stylists.(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.

[0007] The prior art relates to lace hairpieces and wigs. The prior art, as best understood, does not disclose a self-securing lace front hairpiece that includes a securing strap and an adhesive strip on an upper interior portion of the forehead piece, wherein the securing strap and the adhesive strip together secure the lace front hairpiece to the head of a person to permit installation by a stylist without the need for assistance from the person or another stylist to temporarily hold the self-securing lace front hairpiece in place.BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above in a self-securing lace front hairpiece generally comprising hairpiece hair, an attachment arrangement, an adhesive strip, and a removable cover layer. The hairpiece hair is designed to extend downwardly from and cover the frontal scalp region of a person with alopecia or thinning or balding edges. The attachment arrangement is designed to detachably connect the hairpiece hair to the frontal scalp region of a person. The attachment arrangement includes a forehead piece includes lace or similar sheer material and a securing strap that together are designed to encircle the head of a person. The securing strap is designed to be placed against a rear portion of the head of a person within or under a person's natural hair. The adhesive strip is positioned on an upper interior portion of the forehead piece and is designed to be positioned adjacent the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline of a person. The removable cover layer is positioned on the adhesive strip and is designed to be removed to expose adhesive material of the adhesive strip. The securing strap and the adhesive strip are together designed to secure the attachment arrangement to the head of a person to permit installation of the hairpiece hair at the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline of a person by a stylist without the need for assistance from the person or another stylist to temporarily hold the self-securing lace front hairpiece in place.

[0009] There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

[0010] The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

[0011] The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

[0012] FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of a self-securing lace front hairpiece according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a close-up view of a portion of an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0014] FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0015] FIG. 4 is a close-up view of a portion of an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 5 is a view of an embodiment of the disclosure in use.

[0017] FIG. 6 is a view of an embodiment of the disclosure in use.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 6 thereof, a new self-securing lace front hairpiece embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

[0019] As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 6, the self-securing lace front hairpiece 10 generally comprises hairpiece hair 12, an attachment arrangement 14, an adhesive strip 16, and a removable cover layer 18. The hairpiece hair 12 is designed to extend downwardly from and cover the frontal scalp region of a person 70 with alopecia or thinning or balding edges. The attachment arrangement 14 is designed to detachably connect the hairpiece hair 12 to the frontal scalp region of the person. The attachment arrangement 14 includes a forehead piece 20 that is made of lace or similar sheer material and a securing strap 22 that together are designed to encircle the head of the person 70. The securing strap 22 is designed to be placed against a rear portion of the head of the person 70 within or under the person's natural hair. The adhesive strip 16 is positioned on an upper interior portion of the forehead piece 20 and is designed to be positioned adjacent the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline 72 of the person 70. The removable cover layer 18 is positioned on the adhesive strip 16 and is designed to be removed to expose adhesive material of the adhesive strip 16. The securing strap 22 and the adhesive strip 16 are together designed to secure the attachment arrangement 14 to the head of the person 70 to permit installation of the hairpiece hair 12 at the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline 72 of the person 70 by a stylist without the need for assistance from the person 70 or another stylist to temporarily hold the self-securing lace front hairpiece 10 in place.

[0020] In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the forehead piece 20 includes a left end portion 24 and a right end portion 26 designed to be positioned adjacent a left ear and a right ear of the person 70. The securing strap 22 includes a left strap end 28 attached to the left end portion 24 and a right strap end 30 attached to the right end portion 26.

[0021] In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the securing strap 22 includes a left strap portion 32 extending from the left strap end 28 and a right strap portion 34 extending from the right strap end 30. The left strap portion 32 includes a right connecting end 36 and the right strap portion 34 includes a right connecting end 38 designed to detachably connect to the right connecting end 36.

[0022] In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the right connecting end 36 includes a hook material 40 and the right connecting end 38 includes a loop material 42 designed to mesh with the hook material 40 in a hook-and-loop connection. It should be understood that the hook material 40 and loop material 42 could have their positions reversed.

[0023] In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the hook material 40 and the loop material 42 are sufficiently long to permit overlapping connection of different lengths and thereby permit adjustment of the length of the securing strap 22.

[0024] In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the securing strap 22 includes a resilient elastic material to permit the securing strap 22 to be stretched around the head of the person 70 and then rebound to tighten onto the head of the person 70.

[0025] In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the self-securing lace front hairpiece 10 can be installed by a stylist to the person 70 with alopecia or thinning or balding edges. The stylist removes the removable cover layer 18 from the adhesive strip 16 and exposes the adhesive material of the adhesive strip 16. This step can be done either first before placing the forehead piece 20 on the person's head, or it can be done at a later time to allow for easy positioning and adjustment before adhering the adhesive strip 16 to the person's head. The stylist places the adhesive strip 16 and the forehead piece 20 adjacent the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline 72 of the person. The stylist adheres the adhesive strip 16 adjacent the front edges of the receding or thinning hairline 72 of the person. The stylist places the securing strap 22 against a rear portion of the head of the person within or under the person's natural hair. The stylist secures the attachment arrangement 14 with the securing strap 22 and the adhesive strip 16 to the head of the person and then installs the hairpiece hair 12 at the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline 72 of the person without the need for assistance from the person or another stylist to temporarily hold the self-securing lace front hairpiece 10 in place. The stylist positions the hairpiece hair 12 extending downwardly from the forehead piece 20 to cover and fill in exposed areas of the person's forehead and styles the hairpiece hair 12 to present a natural appearance around the forehead and face of the person 70. In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, if the securing strap 22 has the hook-and-loop onnection, the stylist can connect and disconnect the hook-and-loop connection as needed to adjust the placement of the securing strap 22 and the forehead piece 20 until the securing strap 22 and the forehead piece 20 are in a desired position.

[0026] With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0027] Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items 10 following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.

Claims

1. A self-securing lace front hairpiece for persons with alopecia or thinning or balding edges comprising:hairpiece hair being configured to extend downwardly from and cover the frontal scalp region of a person with alopecia or thinning or balding edges;an attachment arrangement being configured to detachably connect said hairpiece hair to the frontal scalp region of a person;said attachment arrangement comprising a forehead piece comprising lace or similar sheer material and a securing strap that together are configured to encircle the head of a person;said securing strap being configured to be placed against a rear portion of the head of a person within or under a person's natural hair;an adhesive strip being disposed on an upper interior portion of said forehead piece and being configured to be disposed adjacent the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline of a person;a removable cover layer being disposed on said adhesive strip and being configured to be removed to expose adhesive material of said adhesive strip; andsaid securing strap and said adhesive strip are together configured to secure said attachment arrangement to the head of a person to permit installation of said hairpiece hair at the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline of a person by a stylist without the need for assistance from the person or another stylist to temporarily hold the self-securing lace front hairpiece in place.

2. The self-securing lace front hairpiece of claim 1, wherein:said forehead piece comprises a left end portion and a right end portion configured to be disposed adjacent a left ear and a right ear of a person; andsaid securing strap comprises a left strap end attached to said left end portion and a right strap end attached to said right end portion.

3. The self-securing lace front hairpiece of claim 2, wherein:said securing strap comprises a left strap portion extending from said left strap end and a right strap portion extending from said right strap end; andsaid left strap portion comprises a left connecting end and said right strap portion comprises a right connecting end configured to detachably connect to said left connecting end.

4. The self-securing lace front hairpiece of claim 3, wherein said left connecting end comprises a hook material and said right connecting end comprises a loop material configured to mesh with said hook material in a hook-and-loop connection.

5. The self-securing lace front hairpiece of claim 4, wherein said hook material and said loop material are sufficiently long to permit overlapping connection of different lengths and thereby permit adjustment of the length of said securing strap.

6. The self-securing lace front hairpiece of claim 5, wherein said securing strap comprises a resilient elastic material to permit said securing strap to be stretched around the head of a person and then rebound to tighten onto the head of a person.

7. The self-securing lace front hairpiece of claim 2, wherein said securing strap comprises a resilient elastic material to permit said securing strap to be stretched around the head of a person and then rebound to tighten onto the head of a person.

8. A method of installing the self-securing lace front hairpiece according to claim 1 for persons with alopecia or thinning or balding edges by a stylist comprising the steps of:removing said removable cover layer from said adhesive strip exposing adhesive material of said adhesive strip;placing said adhesive strip and said forehead piece adjacent the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline of a person;adhering said adhesive strip adjacent the front edges of the receding or thinning hairline of the person;placing said securing strap against a rear portion of the head of the person within or under the person's natural hair;securing said attachment arrangement with said securing strap and said adhesive strip to the head of the person and then installing said hairpiece hair at the front edges of a receding or thinning hairline of the person without the need for assistance from the person or another stylist to temporarily hold the self-securing lace front hairpiece in place; andpositioning said hairpiece hair extending downwardly from said forehead piece to cover and fill in exposed areas of the person's forehead and styling said hairpiece hair to present a natural appearance around the forehead and face of the person.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:said forehead piece comprises a left end portion and a right end portion configured to be disposed adjacent a left ear and a right ear of a person;said securing strap comprises a left strap end attached to said left end portion and a right strap end attached to said right end portion;said securing strap comprises a left strap portion extending from said left strap end and a right strap portion extending from said right strap end;said left strap portion comprises a left connecting end and said right strap portion comprises a right connecting end configured to detachably connect to said left connecting end;said left connecting end comprises a hook material and said right connecting end comprises a loop material configured to mesh with said hook material in a hook-and-loop connection;said step of placing said securing strap comprises placing said left strap portion on a left side of a person's head and placing said right strap portion on a right side of a person's head and then connecting said left connecting end and said right connecting end in a hook-and-loop connection; andsaid method further comprises:disconnecting said left connecting end and said right connecting end;adjusting the placement of said securing strap and said forehead piece; andreconnecting said left connecting end and said right connecting end upon said securing strap and said forehead piece being in a desired position.

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